Just 24 girls on the final qualifying squad on Saturday evening, many desperate to hit a score that will get them into tomorrow's final rounds, others looking to improve a position they already hold within that coveted 24 group that will carry forward and, by the way, also get a free lunch between squads.

After being runner-up last year for the President Samaranch Trophy, an extra incentive for the under 20's, Daria Kovalova gets to clasp it this year. Just 16 years of age she is fast making a name for herself on the European circuit. although Ukrainian, Daria now lives with her family in Moscow, so getting some good coaching and talented opposition.

The shining light for this evening's squad beamed down on Kovalova and past champion Kirsten Penny from England. Just 15 pins separated the pair after five games but when Penny missed a single 7-pin in the third frame of the final game, the gap opened to 50 pins in the Ukrainian's favor.

But it was defending champion Denmark's Mai Ginge Jensen who quickly came out of the shadows to take advantage of Kovalova and Penny's sub-200 finishing games, shooting 216 to come home with 1274 for third position in the overall standings behind Nicki Ainge and Clara Guerrero.

Kovalova finished with 1269 and Penny 1256 to tie up the top three squad positions.

Mai Ginge Jensen certainly had no objections to a post-squad interview. "I did see that Kovalova was shooting a good score but today doen't matter all that much, tomorrow is the big day. I don't care much about the other players as I have to focus on my own game. Tonight I shot a hundred pins more than my previous squads so I had all my focus on doing my good thing. What everybody else does doesn't really matter.

"I was here in Barcelona in July and I really do not like the approaches. You either slide too much or you stick, but I managed to have a pretty good sole and heel to my shoes for this squad, so that kind of helped me. I felt really comfortable so do not realise why I haven't used these before.

"I like the format of tomorrow's final. I think it is good. Everybody has a chance tomorrow and that is a good thing about this tournament. Just half the pins are carried forward so nobody is running away with a huge total. I need to play really good tomorrow as everybody wants to beat me as I am the world champion, so I will clear my mind and focus on my shots.

"I like best of three games as you are able to regroup if you get into trouble in one game then you can go into the next game and not worry about what you shot in the last game."

It is a simple format for the final stages as all 24 will bowl two blocks of four games and then the top four fight the semi-finals as best of three games to advance to the final, a further best of three games.

It all starts at 15:00 CET (14:00 GMT) and will be web streamed by CatTV on www.fcbb.cat.

FINAL QUALIFYING - Top 24 qualify for final steps 1 & 2:

VII EUROPEAN WOMEN'S MASTERS PRESIDENT SAMARANCH TROPHY